response 1 of 145:

Jun 24 22:44 UTC 1996

Four *hours*?  I'm exhausted just reading that.

response 3 of 145:

Jun 26 01:20 UTC 1996

When my daughter was getting married, she kept looking at the most expensive
stuff on the planet, as if money grew on trees.  It was difficult to keep her
inside our limited financial bounds.  We ended up doing a lot of the stuff
ourselves.  I did all the flower arrangements, bouquets, corsages, etc.  I
made and decorated the cake and did the calligraphy on the invitations.  I
prepared allthe food and did the serving.  I did all the decorations and made
all the little niceties like ring bearer's pillow, bows for the pews, bird
seed lacy things (in place of rice), and wedding momentoes.  It was a
physically exhausting time, but she seemed quite happy on her wedding day.
It lasted about 9 months.  When she got remarried a few years later, I threw
some munchies on the table and made sure the house was cleaned...it's been
three years now with no sign of divorce...thank goodness.

When my husband and I married, we paid for everything ourselves.  We kept it
small and I bought a dress which could be used for semi-formal evenings out.
We are getting ready to rededicate our marriage on our 15th anniversary this
July and I will wear the same dress.  We will probably just go out to eat
afterwards.

response 5 of 145:

Jun 26 16:16 UTC 1996

Notes on various friends getting married:

Best wedding was a couple of housemates, so it was a neat wedding in that it
was two good friends, not one friend and a stranger.  Very creative, small
wedding.  Nice service in the MSU chapel, with just two bridesmaids/ushers,
nobody dressed in geeky wedding outfits.  The groom and ushers wore nice
suits, the maids had nicely related dresses that looked usable for other
things.  The reception was fun, with a good local salsa band and lots of neat
plants on the tables.

Most recent wedding was midwestern gothic!  This was the "perfect" organized
wedding, with 6 bridesmaids and 6 ushers, a DJ at the reception.  And the DJ
kept announcing different event like photos, first dance, etc. like a drill
sargeant.  And the main dancing had all these midwestern DJ wedding reception
"traditions" like playing the "Electric Slide" (some kind of disco line
dance), "YMCA" (no kidding!), etc.  Very bizarre, at least the way I saw it.

response 7 of 145:

Jun 28 15:59 UTC 1996

hey headdoc!
there is a place in seattle, in the fremont neighborhood, that has
a chapel where you can get married by an elvis impersonator and
his pricilla imitating wife.

response 9 of 145:

Jun 29 04:02 UTC 1996

My second wedding was tons of fun. We decided on a 20's theme, based on the
$50. dress that redfox and I found in a little boutique. The groomsmen and
ushers looked like they should all be carrying violin cases, and the women
all had strings of pearls on their heads. (Guess you'd have to see a picture!)
Then my grandparents' gift was the use of a park for the reception. Someone
gave us a pig and rented a roaster, a couple of folks gave us kegs...what a
party that was! Too bad that it was only three years later that I felt
compelled to change the locks on the house and use his socks to spell "get
out" on the front lawn. )8^o

response 11 of 145:

Jun 30 00:42 UTC 1996

Mary Remmers, you have an incredibly clever mind.
iggy, don't you dare talk to my oldest daughter, who at this very moment is
starting to plan her "alternative wedding" in Seattle.  To take place after
she graduates in June (Remeber folks, Jerry and I have to shell out sizable
amounts for these shin digs.)  Jacki, who will be married in August (also in
Seattle) is going traditional.  We spent hours and hours meeting with the
hotel staff, the band leader (a darling laid back type guy) and her florist
(also, a lovely, laid back type woman), the seeamstress who practically remade
her Victorian type gown, a makeup and hair person who will come to the hotel
and "do us all up" the day of the wedding, and so on and so on.  

I like the traditional aspect but not the cost of everything.  Lauren is
thinking of getting married at the Indian museum overlooking the water, half
mexican-catholic (the groom) and half jewish-athiest (the bride), importing
the bagels and lox from H&H bagel factory in NYC and the mexican food from
God knows where.  They are talking about two bands. . .marriachi and klezmer.
Champagne and beer, bagels and lox.  Well, at least that's better then an
Elvis impersonator or running away and getting married in Las Vegas.

By the way, iggy, I am back in Ann Arbor, where the temperature reached over
90 today and humid.  I left Seattle where it was dry and gorgeous and never
went above 72.  IWANT TO MOVE THERE!!!  But first I have to pay off these
weddings. ;-).  Oh yes, I discovered Mocha Frappochinos at Starbucks and have
formed an instant addiction.

response 13 of 145:

Jun 30 08:44 UTC 1996

I think I would like to be married in the Unitarian Church of Arlington, in
Arlington, Virginia.  That is where my parents met, and the church I went to
when I was little.  I haven't been back there in quite a while; hmmmm, maybe
I should go.  My father was the chairman of the board there, and they named
the choir room after him when he died.  Grex is my church now, though.  I
wonder if I could get married in the church of Grex...

response 15 of 145:

Jun 30 12:31 UTC 1996

I would like to have been married at Botsford Recreation Preserve just west
of Ann Arbor, and have a ceremony where the bride, groom, and minister/priest/
whatever are all in the nude.  Also, I have fantasized a ritual of body
acceptance and (are you ready for this) the bride and groom making love as
a consummation of our marriage.

response 17 of 145:

Jun 30 19:26 UTC 1996

No one needs china to live. It has to do with something called "taste". More
to the point, "good taste". Dare I say, breeding. You are obviously not from
the South.

response 23 of 145:

Jul 1 15:02 UTC 1996

my philosophy on "china"?
if you cant microwave it, then what good is it?
i have the correll stuff. and it stacks  in a small area to boot!